Big_Stu

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1415266571' post='2598488'] In all fairness guys, t'crossbeam's gone askew on't treddle. [/quote] Trouble at' Mill?

[quote name='Telebass' timestamp='1415259457' post='2598418'] Well, I'll taje Harold over the zombies any day. Might I request a copy if I cover the expenses, pretty please? [/quote] You can hear it for the next four weeks from now if you click the link in the OP. I'll be hoping to find some Audio CD-Rs at the weekend to do my mate's one - if you still want a permanent copy next week drop me a PM.

Who knows?? Too late for Trick Or Treat, too soon for Strictly.

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1415224186' post='2598224'] Yes it was joy to listen to. What surprise me on here sometimes is that here is a guy that is so interesting and important as far as Basses go but there is little interest. On the other hand there are 40+ posts in a thread about zombies. BC can be a very strange place at times. [/quote] TBH I listened to it to see what Cropper had to say, but it was a real eye-opener (or ear-opener anyway) "played on 13,000 records" is a moment - and I actually recognised every song that was played during the hour!

It was excellent! I taped it (yup! on a real cassette deck!) for a mate & will be burning it to CD for him. It was an amazing hour of ticking off hit after hit that he was on.

[quote name='Weststarx' timestamp='1415183037' post='2597458'] Guys, I cannot thank you enough. I didnt know I had any of these rights haha! I will let you know the outcome at the weekend![/quote] I heard that Trading Standards was being taken over by a dept of Citizens Advice Bureau & that does seem to be the case. You could get chapter and verse off them, "Consumer helpline 03454 04 05 06" before you try again. The old Trading Standards had a lot of clout & would in some cases phone the shop to kind of tell them they were about to have a complaint logged against them; that was enough to fix the last problem I had.

Don't know if the law's changed but it used to be that once you gave them the chance to repair it you lost a lot of strength in asking for a refund. I had a Laney practise amp once, the speaker was way underpowered & had to be replaced fairly quickly, other than that it was OK - but nothing special. You could maybe write to Laney's PR/Customer Service people saying "I appear to have bought a Friday afternoon amp, can you help me out" kinda thing & hope for the best? I tweeted about a duff shaver a few weeks ago & had the company on within minutes asking what they could do to help. Social media can be powerful stuff. edit: @LaneyAmps

[quote name='UglyDog' timestamp='1414928052' post='2594666'] For anyone who has an active bass that lives under the bed, a quick plea... Please for God's sake [b]take the battery out[/b] [/quote] Definitely; "Energizers" are allegedly guaranteed not to leak but I wouldn't want to test that the hard way.

My John Birch custom EB3 sadly. By unfortunate coincidence it was the last guitar that he built. (He's famous for the weird shaped glam rock guitars of the early 70s but started in building making specialised pickups before Tony Iommi had him build his first two octave SG because no-one else would, Tony liked that guitar so much he financed the creation of John birch Guitars.). John called me on a Sunday to tell me it was nearly done, he was found dead in his kitchen two days later. Over the years it's insurance costs have gone up to the point where they won't insure it for playing out, just theft from home only & having put a couple of dings in it over the years I'm scared of putting any more in it. The last valuation I had was 6+ years ago and it was over £5k then, though I highly doubt it would ever sell for even half that.

Just a head's up that if you're after a show post-bash Cropper's in the area Sunday evening at Middlesbrough Town Hall with The Animals. It's not gone un-noticed that Scott on bass bears more than a passing resemblance to Duck Dunn, even down to now playing a Jazz rather than the Dusenberg he had earlier in the year.

[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1414789078' post='2593426'] Who fills you with tone envy, and what gear do they use? Did you ever spend a fortune trying to emulate it? Did you get close? [/quote] i was floored the first time I heard Jimmy Lea of Slade's custom John Birch EB3 bass with active overdrive through 5 x Hiwatt 200s + Hiwatt cabs and custom bins on their 1978 tour. About 20 years after I had the cash to get John Birch to build me a copy of the bass. 3 years after that I owned Noddy Holder's actual Hiwatt 200 + one of Jimmy Lea's Hiwatt cabs along with a Marshall 2 x 15 for the bottom end. Yes, it sounded the absolute bollox and then some. BUT I didn't have Jimmy Lea's hands - or skills........................................BUT I did make quite a mark up when I sold the Hiwatt stuff

Yeah, they were all phenomenal drinks in the old days, though there's only Don Powell who admits to it becoming a problem. I'm not aware of any of the others just being more than "seasoned bevvyers"

[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1414663279' post='2591884'] and what a claim lol. You must be in my age group Stu. [/quote] I'm 21 .................. with 31 years experience! When your footage was made Nod hadn't long decided that he'd never gig again, so there was a lot of background hanging around within the band to see if he'd change his mind, 5 years later he gave up playing entirely.. I've met a lot of musical celebs over the years; 99% of them have been wonderful people. At one Slade gig in 83 Jimmy gave me a go on his new JD custom EB3, which he only ever used for recording because it turned out that that tour was the last UK one they ever did.

[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1414658449' post='2591805'] Here's how I got to meet Jimmy, lol. (yes, I (am) was that young punk!) [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypuRuTsbhuk"]https://www.youtube....h?v=ypuRuTsbhuk[/url] [/quote] So you were a winner with Ronnie The Runner!!?? Now THAT is a claim to fame! [i]"Ooooo Gary Davies, Ooooo Gary Davies, Oooo Gary Davies on your radio"[/i]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1414617905' post='2591529'] Cool, I didn't know Manny's was still in business. I purchased my 1st Fender P bass there when I was in High School. It cost like $350.00 brand new in 1970.[/quote] It's not now but was in its final months back then, IIRC Sam Ash from across the street bought it out. First sign it was going was they sold off the wall of autographed photos.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1414616732' post='2591505'] Question, would a band like mine with a 29 year old female front and lead guitarists doing 70s style blues/rock get decent crowds in your pubs if we came over to do a short pub tour. Or would we fall into the same boat as your local bands. I was thinking cause were Yanks we might be different and interesting. Blue [/quote] New york duo "Pete & J" did a small bar tour here in 2006 and loved it, so maybe you could ask them what they thought & how it was organised? I spoke with them when they played a bar near me. By a massive coincidence I literally bumped into Pete in Manny's in NYC a few weeks later.

The only name I've regarded as a "hero" was Jimmy Lea of Slade in my youth. First time I met him I was dumb-struck, in later meets I learned that he preferred to talk about every day stuff & gear in which case he was very chatty. I've applied that to every "name" I've met since and it makes for a great chat whether it's a 10 minute chat or a night out.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1414541723' post='2590589']Personally, I wouldn't touch it with a borrowed barge pole, [i]but then I always was a miserable b*st*rd.[/i] [/quote] ..........hundreds of BCers died in the rush to refute this statement......erm..........erm........... ...........

[quote name='marlborored' timestamp='1414538245' post='2590556'] Okay guys thanks, you're probably right about not using the equipment; the weird thing is though the same thing happens with all 3 of my amps... Cheers though guys [/quote] If you have more than one bass does it do the same with them? If you haven't borrow one & check. Could be a bad or missing earth on the bass but as has been said - don't guess with electrickery. It does sound more like static but sweaty hands can enhance that in a gig scenario.

Oop north in the early 80s we had the Lodestar Roadhouse, which looked a hell of a lot like the place in that Swayze film. Serious rough hole, the bouncers kept table legs under the reception desk for the inevitable trouble. It's a small housing estate now. Not far away was the New Inns, nearest town Rishton. A great venue, held about 200 & was 2 miles from the nearest town, so never had complaints about levels. In the era of NWOBHM they had a Sunday "matinee" show, followed by the full on one at night for originals metal bands. Blackpool was less than an hour away so we'd go there for eats and kicks in-between times. Covers bands were on a Friday night and a disco on the Saturday . It fell victim to a major fire in the 90s and is now an Indian restaurant.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1414507245' post='2589979'] They have these things now called trains, ................[/quote] A good point, pointedly made. I did Preston>Brum by train last Thursday for £18 cos Virgin are doing special deals just now, it took 90 mins, Brum being a handy meeting up point. Last I heard from mates in Cardiff though it's a major PITA to get from there to anywhere else by train.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1414264458' post='2587761']2 to 2 1/2 turns around the machine head post should be plenty to hold the string in place. Excessive winds just give you extra tuning instability as the string relaxes from new as you have probably discovered. [/quote] ^this. One and a half turns may be too little & over 3 is too much. I use the pinch method of winding strings on & never had a problem with it. The first turn goes over the string stub end the next and any after that go underneath. It improves the break angle over the nut and as it goes to pitch the string stub is gripped harder by the winds wrapped either side of it. On 1 and a half winds my guess would be the string just slipped loose a bit, ain't no thang!! Like this, but not as many winds under for a bass.

[quote name='visog' timestamp='1414265038' post='2587774'] So cue Oasis reunion... cynical, boring and inevitable... [/quote] That's one of the rumourzzzzzzz fro Glastonbury next year .................... again.

[quote name='Ebay' post='2582465'] 13-Oct-14 19:20:51 BST ReturnPolicy Changed Returns Accepted from [b]Returns Accepted[/b] to [b]ReturnsNotAccepted[/b] [/quote] Oooh! Guess why??

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1413803983' post='2582017'] Scott is a top bloke. I am having some lessons from him atm.[/quote] I'm guessing they're on hold for a month? Never seen such a tight schedule! They're in Spain for the day today, UK gigs then France for 3 or 4, then UK again, virtually solid for a month until 23rd of Nov IIRC, incredible when two of them are top side of 70 years old. Haven't spoken with Scott yet, but he's a red hot bassist!